


For Oliver

by Books_and_Cats_and_Coffee



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Story, F/M, Not Canon Compliant, like at all, young!mia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 01:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18201896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Books_and_Cats_and_Coffee/pseuds/Books_and_Cats_and_Coffee
Summary: Felicity knows her daughter will grow up in a dangerous world. Following her late husband's wishes, she reaches out to someone who she knows has the capabilities and skills to give Mia a shot at life.





	For Oliver

Mia was already like her father. It was uncanny really, how the young girl shared so many characteristics with the parent who she barely knew. She had come of age where her actual training should start, where Oliver had said it would be best for her to begin learning in earnest. He had wanted her to know how to fight, how to take care of herself. She was a Queen and that meant there would always be danger in her life, no matter how hard Felicity tried to protect her. She had made her husband a promise that their daughter would learn. Not a promise he had ever heard, but it mattered nonetheless, and Felicity wouldn't break it.

That was what had prompted her to make the call. A call she never thought she’d ever make, to a person she never thought she’d speak to again, honestly, she hadn’t even expected an answer. But her call had gone through, and a familiar voice had answered. It was too dangerous to speak over the phone, and so she asked for a meeting and sent a letter from a fake address with directions, not the house, but to a town nearby. Felicity knew the paper message would be destroyed. The recipient understood the danger of such information.

Then, she waited. It took time, as she knew it would. When Mia asked what she was waiting for, one of the many days Felicity found herself staring out the window, she told her daughter ‘a friend of your father’s’, but there was so much more to it than that. It was all too complicated, however, and she had no way to tell her daughter the truth, and who that friend really was.

Two weeks passed before the visit. When it finally came, there was little warning. She was out, distractedly taking care of the little garden that Oliver had insisted they keep. “For emergencies.” he had said. She hadn’t understood, not really, in an emergency, they might not be able to leave the house. The air might not be safe. There might be no vegetation left. There might be no cabin left. She tended to it anyway, as she had done for years now, in case of an emergency.

It was her instincts that alerted her to the visitor, and she whirled around, noticing even as she did so, that the proximity alarms hadn’t gone off. Her senses were sharper than they had been, but she knew he must have been standing there for some time. They both looked at each other, then, his gaze went to the cabin, studying it impassively. It felt different, wrong, to be here, visiting with one another without Oliver. She knew he felt the same hole that her husband’s presence caused. The birds chirped softly in the trees, a soft wind blew. The peace here belied what the world was really like.

Felicity took a moment to rethink her decision. He had grown older, certainly, but age was held off, undoubtedly by the serum that still gave him uncanny senses and abilities, even if he had been mostly cured of the stuff. He was just as capable and deadly as always, with the same skill that meant he never really should have lost to Oliver, something all of them knew but never admitted aloud.

“Thank you for coming,” Felicity broke the silence. She knew he was surprised by her request for a meeting. She had never forgiven him, he knew that, just as he knew she would never be able to, not really, and he had never asked she did.

“I did not expect to hear from you,” he admitted, confirming her earlier thought. “Your situation must be dire if I’m the one you reached out to.” Neither was up for small talk, there was nothing to talk about.

“I need a favor,” Felicity said, getting to the point. He was taken aback by that, either the statement itself or the bluntness with which she spoke.

“Dire indeed,” he replied. Felicity gave a small nod, and gestured back to the cabin, she new it was safe here, the safest she could ever be. But speaking about such things out in the open felt wrong. He followed her in through the door, and Felicity stepped to the side, rebooting the security as it responded to the door being opened. After the incident with _Archer_ , she had grown weary of giving any security system more information or intelligence than it needed. She led him to the kitchen, feeling safer now they were indoors, and paused by the counter, turning to face him again.

He hadn’t moved quickly after her, cautious of his surroundings. Honestly, she couldn’t blame him. She knew the authorities would jump at any chance they had to lock him up or execute him, with or without a trial.

“It’s dangerous in the outside world, especially for a Queen, or anyone related to one,” she started. He didn’t know where she was going, but he gave a small nod nonetheless, not interrupting. “Especially in Star City.”

“I’m aware of the dangers, Ms. Smoak,” he replied, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms.

“It’s a different time now, we can’t afford to hope for the best for the people we love, no matter how hard we try, we can’t keep them safe.” That stuck home with him, she could tell. “I learned that a long time ago,” she added softly.

“None of this explains why I was the one you reached out to,” he said, obviously wanting the conversation to move along. “Or why you thought I would help.” It was a valid point and the thing that had worried her the most; what if he said no? Worse, what if it was all a ploy. But she knew, deep down, it wasn’t.

“Because I know you didn’t agree to any of them because of me,” Felicity replied. He didn’t have a reply for that, and she pressed on. “You came here because of Oliver.” It felt strange to say his name aloud. “And I’m hoping you say yes because this is for him as much as it is for me, and I know that there was a time you would have done anything for him if he just asked.”

It was manipulative, but she needed to be. It was the first time she had spoken about it, probably the first time she had ever acknowledged it. Once, she had considered broaching it with Oliver, shortly after her husband had returned from a trip halfway across the world. Oliver had apologized for leaving so abruptly. She had meant for her response to be lighthearted. _“Is this going to be a thing now? You two rushing off at the drop of a hat if the other one needs it?”_ But the hurt she had seen in Oliver’s eyes had made her realize the depth of what was there. It was true for either of them. They would have done anything, they would have died for each other if the other had just asked. But neither ever did.

“There is little I can do that you cannot,” he replied, and she felt she had gotten him to listen closely now, at least. “If you wish to take down tyranny in Star or some other corruptions, there are others who would be of more assistance.” He paused. “I assume that’s what you mean?”

“I don’t need help with a revolution. I need you to help me the same way you once helped Oliver.” She started walking again, crossing over to the archway and knocking twice on it. She turned back to face him. “I don’t know much about fighting or self-preservation, the battles I fought I did with a computer.”

“You’re asking me to train you?” he guessed. Felicity knew where the misunderstanding came from, and she shook her head.

“No. I’m asking you to do something I don’t have the skillset for,” she answered. She heard soft footfalls approaching the kitchen and turned to beckon Mia into the room. “I’m asking you to train my daughter.” She could see both the pain and surprise that that simple word brought. The surprise she understood, they had never told anyone about Mia except John Diggle. The hurt however...she preferred not to try to analyze what caused it. The young girl looked up at him, her face framed by soft blonde waves. Confused, the girl looked to her mother. It was the first time she had seen a stranger in their home.

“Is this Dada’s friend?” she asked. Felicity didn’t look away from the man for a long moment, and then, he tipped his head in a nod, silently agreeing to what she had asked of him.

“Thank you.” She didn’t know if he understood just how important this was, but he seemed to. Bending slightly, Felicity took one of her daughter’s hands, encouraging the girl to meet the man she had just brought into their lives. “Mia, this is Slade Wilson, he’s going to teach you how to take care of yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> So don't get me wrong, I loved seeing Nyssa again and getting trained by a badass assassin is the best addition to Mia's backstory. However, I couldn't shut off this idea, and I really liked it, and CW can't use Slade Wilson anymore...so yeah.  
> I don't know if anything will ever be added to this...probably not.


End file.
